1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a housing for a television camera apparatus used for surveillance applications.
Surveillance television cameras are commonly mounted onto a wall, pole, ceiling or any other fixed bases by using an extended arm, known as a camera mount. The extended arm or camera mount includes a swivel joint, which permits the positioning of the horizontal and vertical axes of the camera in order to direct the camera lens toward its intended observation end. In many cases television cameras are covered by a housing and as a result, the entire camera assembly becomes large and heavy, which requires very heavy mounting accessories for vandal proof environment. Furthermore, it is not possible to employ television cameras that are mounted on a mount and a swivel joint because common mounts with swivel joints can be easily tampered with and/or break and/or can be used for self hanging inside jails, particularly for detention cells that are violent in nature. Therefore, cameras used for observation of detention cells are commonly mounted inside vandal proof camera housings which are made of a thick steel. Such camera housings are fixedly bolted to walls or ceilings, which limits the positioning of the horizontal and vertical axes of the cameras to within the housing interiors, with the camera positioning particularly restricted by the size of the visible area of the front pane.
Observing the interiors of small cells from within the cell interior require the use of very wide angle lenses, known as fisheye lenses. Cameras employing very wide angle lens require very wide front panes in order not to obstruct the vision to the lens. However, a wider pane can be easier tampered with and break and therefore, for a vandal proof housing it is necessary to minimize the size of the front pane. This in turn further restricts the adjustment of camera positioning within the housing, particularly when the camera is fitted with very wide angle lens.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a housing for a television camera that is vandal proof and which permits a wider repositioning of its horizontal and vertical axes for observing different scenes. This and other objects of the present invention are attained by a camera housing with an adjustable front pane comprising: a mount for attaching said housing to a structure selected from the group consisting of a wall, a pole and a ceiling; a front panel; an adjustable camera support for mounting a TV camera inside said housing and adjusting said camera within an interior of said housing by aiming said camera at different zones through an opening in said front panel; an adjustable pane assembly including a front holder, a rear holder and a transparent window having a transparent pane enclosed between said rear holder and said front holder which are attached together, wherein said rear holder includes a rear window frame and said front holder includes a front window frame which is smaller than said opening and wherein said transparent pane along with said rear window frame and said front window frame form said transparent window; a rear for supporting and locking said pane assembly to said front panel wherein said front panel includes fastening means for tightening said pane assembly between said rear support and said front panel and wherein said pane assembly further includes one of passages or cutouts for said fastening means such that said transparent window can be positioned at different zones of said opening commensurating with said aiming of said camera.